New Book Takes Closeup of Romney’s Political Ambition, Family, Career

Jan 14, 2012 3:13 pm ET

By Sara Murray and Danny Yadron

Mitt Romney‘s business career, faith, family and 2008 presidential campaign get a closer look in “The Real Romney,” a book coming out Tuesday on the GOP front-runner by Boston Globe reporters Michael Kranish and Scott Helman.

Here are five highlights from an advance copy:

Mr. Romney is still struggling with the same problems that have undermined him in the past.

In many ways, “The Real Romney” underscores flaws that still haunt the GOP front-runner despite overhauling his strategy since 2008. The core criticism: He’s an out-of-touch flip-flopper who lacks the socially conservative chops to represent the party. The book cites an unnamed aide talking about the 2008 bid saying, “Everything could always be tweaked, reshaped, fixed, addressed…It was foreign to him on policy issues that core principles mattered—that somebody would go back and say, ‘Well, three years ago you said this.’ ”…